Anti-gang strategy launches despite limited government funding

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This article was published 05/06/2017 (3057 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After about a year of consultation and research, Winnipeg’s Gang Action Interagency Network (GAIN) launched its comprehensive strategy Monday aimed at limiting gang influence on youth in the city.

The strategy, which will focus on intervention, prevention and suppression of gang activity over a three-year starting period, was funded in part by the provincial government. In April, that funding was cut only weeks ahead of the deadline for renewal and barely a month before the strategy was set to launch.

GAIN co-ordinator Robyn Dryden said the province agreed to fund the program until the end of August, but with that limited funding, the organization will be forced to stretch and look for community assistance.

“It’s really upsetting that our funding was pulled at this particular moment,” Dryden told the Free Press, adding the organization is still confident it will be able to make an impact.

The organization’s goals include providing immediate support to youth trying to exit or avoid gangs, along with achieving long-term solutions.

Those lasting results are proven to come from providing access to employment, mentorship, recreation and mental heath and addictions support, Dryden said. A large part of GAIN’s plan is centred on removing barriers to those services.

According to a 2013 report published by the Canadian Police Association, there were roughly 1,400 active youth street gang members in Winnipeg. (In this case, “youth” refers to members ages six to 29.)

Though nearly 60 per cent of those youth members are of indigenous descent, Dryden stressed gang violence is not an indigenous issue, rather a city-wide problem. However, the influence gangs have over indigenous youth is apparent, fuelled by root causes stemming from colonization, poverty and intergenerational trauma, she added.

Even before its funding was cut, GAIN planned to work alongside community organizations, aligning goals toward decreasing gang influence and increasing programming.

“I think (the provincial government) will come to the table,” said GAIN chairman Jamil Mahmood, also serves as the executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association.

“We’re always willing to work with them. Hopefully, when they see the strategy, they’ll change their minds.”

Dryden said Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman “declined to participate in the consultation.” However, Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) did attend the launch to show the city’s support.

Gilroy praised the program as giving youth “a path leading forward, not backward.”

As of now, Dryden is GAIN’s only paid employee and because her salary was part of the provincial funding, the organization will be forced to fundraise if it hopes to keep her on after August.

Having worked on the strategy and its upcoming implementation for over a year, Dryden hopes she’ll be able to continue to provide guidance and support to youth for the full duration of the organization’s initial three-year plan — and beyond.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge” to secure funding, Mahmood said, but he and his colleagues hope they’ll be able to progress as planned.

For now, GAIN will focus only on youth in Winnipeg, but it hopes to provide help toward youth outside the city by next year and to adults over the age of 30 by 2019.

“We’re confident we’ll be able to find the right partners if the province and city aren’t interested,” Dryden said.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca